Check our my latest trip to Nigeria. I was so blessed to be able to spend time with my staff encouraging them through leadership training. We re-visited our vision, mission and core values while evaluating our programs and processes. We analyzed our office culture and came up with ways to show Christ’s love better in the lives of those he has entrusted us with. We celebrated our children and continued to work towards progress on our building project for the school. God continues to give us all the strength to be his hands and feet in Egbe, Nigeria.
P.S. My birthday fundraiser for Pastor Alabi was fully funded!! Thank you everyone for helping make my birthday wish come true!
Today is my Birthday! Only $1,540 more needed to make my birthday wish come true! Help Pastor Alabi’s family move into his new home! https://donorsee.com/project/11672
Pastor Alabi is married with children and he is the project manager for the Spring Of Life Counseling Center. He works with over 300 patients with infectious diseases through support group meetings, home visitations, outreach and counseling on drug adherence and trauma care. He has been trying to build a home for his family for over 10 years. In Nigeria it is almost impossible to get a mortgage for a home. Every step must be paid for in cash. Pastor Alabi has been trying to divert funds to the building of his home but at the rate he is going it will be another 10 years before he is able to move in. Would you please consider making a difference in this family’s life by helping purchase windows, doors, cement work and a bore hole so they can move into their new home.
One week from today is my Birthday and I only have one wish! Move one of my favorite Nigerians, Pastor Alabi, into his new home! https://donorsee.com/project/11672
Pastor Alabi is married with children and he is the project manager for the Spring Of Life Counseling Center. He works with over 300 patients with infectious diseases through support group meetings, home visitations, outreach and counseling on drug adherence and trauma care. He has been trying to build a home for his family for over 10 years. In Nigeria it is almost impossible to get a mortgage for a home. Every step must be paid for in cash. Pastor Alabi has been trying to divert funds to the building of his home but at the rate he is going it will be another 10 years before he is able to move in. Would you please consider making a difference in this family’s life by helping purchase windows, doors, cement work and a bore hole so they can move into their new home.
We are pleased to announce that Diana Beville has accepted a staff position at C.A.R.E. Africa. She will be assuming the role of Child Sponsorship Coordinator.
In 2014 Diana and her husband,Stephen, made their first visit to C.A.R.E. Africa in Egbe Nigeria. It was to be a turning point in Diana’s life. She left Egbe knowing it had captured her heart and she would be back. Immediately on returning from Nigeria, she wanted to know how she could help.
Diana did a one table booth at a local farmer’s market selling jewelry the women in our ministry had handcrafted. Seven years later she has grown into a full, online Etsy store (http://www.CareAfricaStore.com in the US and Canada http://www.CareAfricaStore.ca ). Diana has expanded from a one table booth into huge exhibitor events at GMHC (Global Missions Health Conference), CAFO (Christian Alliance for Orphans), M3/Mobilizing Medical Missions Conference, and Paristown Flea off Markets. Her dedication and love for this ministry is evident and she has already returned to Nigeria three more times since her initial visit.
Diana is married and the mother of two beautiful girls, Kaitlyn and Charlotte. She graduated from University of Louisville. Diana previously worked at Shultz Career Consulting as an employment specialist for people with disabilities. In taking on the Child Sponsorship role, Diana’s goal is to deepen the relationships with our sponsors and their children in Egbe, while also finding new sponsors for more children. We are excited to see how Diana will take our sponsorship experience to a whole new level.
Diana’s first task is collecting letters and/or items for sponsored children to fill suitcases that are going to Nigeria in the month of October. If you sponsor a C.A.R.E. Africa child and would like to send a letter or an item, please email Diana at mailto:diana@icareafrica.org
If you do not currently sponsor a child please take a moment to visit our giving page at http://www.icareafrica.org to see the two beautiful children that are in need of sponsors.
We have the opportunity again to send needed items to our kids, staff and caregivers in Egbe, Nigeria.
In the month of May we sent out an Amazon list and everyone gave and gave and we filled 4 suitcases! It was so amazing to receive packages everyday for C.A.R.E. Africa! I had the honor of watching the body of Christ show up and show off for everyone in Egbe. They were so excited to receive all the needed items.
We need to do it again! With 78 children, 46 caregivers and 30+ staff now, our needs are never ending. Please consider checking out our Amazon list and purchasing an item or two to help us fill a suitcase. See the link below.
It seems just like yesterday when I was going through the process of applying to different colleges, plowing through all the uncertainties and doubts with complete blindness and a tentative faith in God. This was then followed by a hasty and quite inadequate preparation for leaving my country for an entirely different population group and […]
At C.A.R.E. Africa we try to reach out to the community monthly to support other ministries to encourage them. We recently visited a ministry in Jos, Nigeria and fell in love with the work they are doing. Meet Bibi, a teacher that was tired of seeing the children in Jebu sitting around with nothing to do. They had no money for school fees so she brought the school to them. The children come everyday now to learn to read and write but have to sit outside in the hot sun. Recently there has been attacks on their village and the need for a shelter is even more important.
Bibi needs a building for these children and has been raising funds all by herself. Help her buy the block, wood and roofing materials needed to finish her building for the children of Jebu Miango in Nigeria. Any amount will help towards the $500 needed. You can donate at https://donorsee.com/project/10366
Check out the progress of their library an educational center along with information on the recent attacks on their village at https://www.facebook.com/kangyangg1.
Four years ago I met with the benefactors of Foundations Academy in Jos, Nigeria in order to create a sister school in Egbe. I also toured Foundations Academy’s prestigious school called Park Ridge. Park Ridge started in 2012 and runs much like an American School. They use mainly Nigerian curriculum to prepare students for Nigerian exams, but they infuse curriculum from around the world to help the students have a broader worldview. I knew one day we would have exceptionally bright children at our school in Egbe and wondered if this could be an option for them. Park Ridge’s reputation opens doors at Universities all across Nigeria and provides a better chance for study abroad.
Over the past two years we have had three of our middle school students with exceptional scores on their testing and marks in class. Gloria, Idowu and Segun. Recently they went to Jos for their JS2 excursion (similar to trips American students take to Washington DC). It was decided they should take the entrance exams and interview for the Park Ridge school in Jos. Two of them tested well and would be allowed to attend. This was a huge opportunity for these two students. After some prayer we decided that Idowu and Segun were ready for this opportunity and Gloria would wait another year.
We reached out to their sponsors praying that they would help but knowing we would need to raise a lot of funds to transport them to Jos and to cover the higher school fees, boarding and meals. Segun’s and Idowu’s sponsor immediately said yes. It was such an answer to prayer, but I was a little worried about Idowu’s sponsor when she said yes so quickly. The increase in fees was significant. I talked to her and offered to try to find someone to partner with her in sponsoring Idowu. Her response brought tears to my eyes. She said she had been saving money to have landscaping done on her home. She said the money targeted for landscaping plus increasing her monthly sponsorship from $35 to $50 a month and talking to family and friends, she would raise the money. Idowu’s education was more important to her than landscaping her home!
She has never personally met Idowu or spent time with him or his family, but she would take her savings and go to her family and friends and raise the money so this little boy could have this amazing opportunity.
Stories like this encourage me and keep me going as Executive Director at C.A.R.E. Africa. When I see someone sacrifice for one of God’s children it gives me goose bumps and warms my heart. I can see how our children at C.A.R.E. Africa are changing lives just as much as our sponsors are. If we could all sacrifice our landscaping, agendas, finances, comfort and time for God’s people all over the world, the world would be such a better place!
We are so grateful for all our sponsors and know that everyone sacrifices every month to make it possible for these 78 kids to have an education, learn about Christ’s love and more. God bless you as you choose to be His hands and feet to the world.
Idowu and Segun’s sponsors talking to them about their future via Facetime.
Meet Elijah and Inioluwa. They are brother and sister and double orphans. We met them several years ago when their father had just passed away. Their mother was destitute and barely managing to care for Elijah, Inioluwa and their older brother Segun. C.A.R.E. Africa took all three siblings in and now provides them with an education, discipleship and mentoring. We also began working with their mother to help with empowerment and discipleship.
Unfortunately, within a matter of months their mother passed away. We located the maternal grandparents and they took all three children in. It was very hard on the elderly grandparents as Elijah, the youngest, was full of energy and never slowed down. The grandmother constantly begged us to take all the children and adopt them out. We worked and prayed with the family and after a few months we felt like they were beginning to settle in. Then unexpectedly the grandmother passed away. This left the care of the children up to the aging grandfather. Shortly after the grandmother passed away the neighbors began to obsess about the deaths and started claiming the children were evil and needed to leave.
We moved Elijah into our transition home, Inioluwa moved into foster care and the oldest Segun stayed with the grandfather to try and help. These kids have experienced too much death and rejection in their short years here on this earth. As a result we began to see acts of bad behavior, stubbornness and lack of interest in school work. During this time we had hired Gloria, a counselor for our C.A.R.E. kids. We sent her to Jos for some training and when she came back she was able to work directly with Elijah, Inioluwa and Segun to assess the trauma. She observed them and came to the conclusion that not only had they suffered severe trauma but they all suffered from different learning disabilities.
Learning disabilities in Nigeria are everywhere but very few Nigerians in the smaller villages recognize or know how to help children with them. These children are normally classified as stubborn or too playful. They fall behind in school and eventually drop out because they cannot cope in the classroom.
Gloria, our school counselor needs more training and resources to help not only Elijah and Inioluwa, but other children in our ministry. We have found training specific to dyslexia in Jos, a city about 11 hours away. These professionals have agreed to evaluate Elijah and Inioluwa for a fee and to provide Gloria with the training she needs to effectively work with children who have learning difficulties.
Please consider helping us make this trip possible by donating towards Gloria’s travel expenses and training. We have also created a Amazon list of resources Gloria will require in order to work with children who have learning challenges. Click the links below to donate towards Gloria’s training and or purchase items at Amazon for her resources.
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bluewatergigi
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Patrice Miles
Lenny
Miles In Missions 